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Monday, 9 March 2015

Coffee Cake... 2nd attempt

Recipe base from Hummingbird Bakery Book.

So I have returned to the scene of the crime.

I really have no rational reason as to why I decided to try doing this cake again... after a hiatus of many months, I have been trying to motivate myself into baking and thought it would be a cop-out to make an old reliable like Spiced Pound Cake, and instead do something that I am yet to perfect.Please let it be noted that I dislike coffee flavoured foods.

Amendments/Mistakes made to the recipe:

Replaced approximately 200g of unsalted butter with Milda (which I believe is like Stork). Reason? To use it up.

Doubled the number of teaspoons of instant coffee granules* for the essence as last time the coffee taste was barely noticeable.

Forgot to reserve a tablespoon of aforementioned coffee essence for the icing.

In a bid to soften the butter for the icing more hastily, I ended up melting it

Thinking the icing was too stiff, I added spray cream to it. Only to remember later that it needed milk. Which I then also added.

Still not making chocolate shavings, so used chocolate drops.

The Making

I softened the butter for about 15 seconds on the low heating setting in the microwave.

The fact is that I need to buy a larger mixing bowl. Using my largest bowl to mix such a voluminous mixture is an exercise in futility, which I discovered when spooning out the mixture into the tin, and finding a 'section' of inadequately unmixed batter.

I only have one shelf in my oven, so ended up leaving the cupcakes for over an hour before they went in the oven. Next time, I will consider using one of the roasting tin shelves as well, although I am wary of using a 'solid' shelf, and not entirely sure if it has a (negative) effect on the bake.

The big ring cake itself took - what I deem to be - an unreasonably long time to bake when compared to the instructions. The colour came on well, however there was far too much wobble, so I had to use my beloved foil hat to protect it from burning, and bake for at least a further 30 minutes, if not more. I cannot blame the size of the cake for this either; the cupcakes took around 30 minutes to bake as opposed to the usual 20.

When cooling, I left the cake for around 10-15 minutes in its tin, the right way up, then for a further 20 minutes or so upside down in its tin, before eventually turning out.

The Verdict

The texture was actually quite good, and I was suitably impressed by the fact that the cake was still fairly moist, despite having to bake it for at least 30 minutes longer than recommended.

The Happily Ever After?

I could probably add some cream to the batter to keep the cake less crumbly, especially with the longer bake.